I'll be Shavin you for £12million

The Gunners are understood to have bid £12m for the 27-year-old Zenit St Petersburg playmaker, rising to a potential £15m with performance-related add-ons.

It was an improvement from their initial approach of £10m and Hill-Wood stated: “This is our final offer – we don’t go any further.

“If we don’t get him, we don’t get him. There are other fish in the sea.

“There is a limit. We made an offer and have now increased it a bit, but we don’t do exactly what everyone wants us to do necessarily.”

Hill-Wood also cleared up confusion about why an Arsenal delegation had not travelled to Russia this week to thrash out the deal.

“I don’t know where that whole thing came from,” he said.

“There was never any suggestion anyone would go over there.”

The board at the Emirates appear to be sticking to their guns about not paying high prices for players.

Zenit, at first, demanded £25m for Russia international Arshavin but are believed to have dropped their price to £20m.

Arshavin – who turns 28 in May – would not be able to play for the Gunners in the Champions League this season as he has already appeared in the competition for Zenit.

It seems Arsenal feel they are in a strong position, with early interest in Arshavin from Inter Milan not materialising and Manchester City showing no signs of entering the bidding.

Also, Arshavin and his agent, Dennis Lachter, are threatening to invoke FIFA’s Article 17 rule, which stipulates players can free themselves from their contract with one, two or even three years left on their deal.

If Arshavin is not allowed to go, Lachter says the player is ready to buy out his contract in November.